Ever had a Player Threaten you Like This?

[EvilGM]

Standard response:
1) Tell them "shut yer pie hole"
2) Chuck a random die at them
3) Kill their character

Granted, we have some slightly odd gamers in our bunch so this might not work for you. It seems like every session we have uppity people demanding things and it usually ends poorly for said players.

 

[Thanee]

Wow, you give absent players 1/2 exp? For my table, if you miss a session, you get nothing. Of course, if the rest of the PCs feel like sharing treasure with you, that is their perogative.

We do that, as well, half XP for characters, whose players are not present.

Don't see anything wrong with that, the XP are for the character not for the player, after all.

Bye
Thanee

 

[ColonelHardisson]

HackMaster has the "Smartass Smackdown" table for just such occasions.

Anyway, I'd suggest revising the house rule about this. I'd say: "If you cannot be present for a session, either pre-arrange for another player to run your character, or the character will be assumed to not be there - in other words, no XP or treasure. As the DM, I don't have the time to run characters for absent players."

 

[Pbartender]

Standard response:
1) Tell them "shut yer pie hole"
2) Chuck a random die at them
3) Kill their character

4) Take their stuff
5) Divide it amongst the remaining characters

 

[The_Universe]

This came up a couple of weeks ago. I had been DM'ing my regular group for 2-3 sessions without the group's only female player because she was rehearsing her part for a play she was going to be in. So, I promised to play her elf wizard for her since none of the other players felt like they could handle two characters at a time.

So far so good, but I end up forgetting to play her character for those sessions and forget giving her half the XP that the other characters get (that's a houserule of mine; if you can't make it for a session, you're awarded only half the XP). Then all of the sudden she writes to me and tells me that if I don't give her a certain amount of XP or gold, she'll quit the game. This ultimatum came out of thin air, no warnings, no "hey, I think you forgot to give me XP for the last couple of sessions", just a plain "give me XP or I leave!"

This amount of XP would be enough to take her from 7th to 8th level in one go, and that's where the players who have been to every session just got. Now, I'm not an unreasonable man and I apoligized for my forgetfulness. If she had just mentioned it to me, she would have been awarded a suitable amount of XP, but instead she just throws demands on the table and threatens to quit. I was seriously tempted to kick her out of the game for the rudeness, but we settled it with half the XP and apology.

Now, my question to you is: Have you ever had similar "encounters" with your players? If so how did you deal with them? And would you have recommended me to do something else?

Never had anything like that, and you're absolutely right to think it was rude and uncalled for.

There was a needless escalation there, and the first, polite step was ignored. I try to game with friends and have had other unpleasant verbal/textual altercations in the past, but this (at least) is new to me. I wouldn't outright boot her, but I'd let her know that her behavior was unnecessary, and the polite route is generally the best one. At that point, let her know that you have an ultimatum of your own - shape up or ship out.

Life's too short to deal with crap.

 

[MadMaxim]

Thanks for the responses, people. I admit that I let her down on the playing her character part, but I'd say that the XP still makes up for that. They don't get more or less loot whether a player is present or not. Hey, she's 18 but still a bit childish in her behavior, so perhaps I shouldn't have been so surprised.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Personally, I'd apologize for forgetting the xp (I wouldn't give people that missed a game any, but that's just me, if it's a standard rule you use, then stick to it), then I'd tell her if she got uppity like that again, not to let the door hit her in the ass on the way out.

I feel exactly the opposite. I give PCs of missing players full xp. Why? Because I see no reason to punish players for not being able to make the game. Missing the game is punishment in and of itself. There's no reason to further penalize the player when I know they wish they could be playing. Now, if a player starts blowing off my game, that's a whole different issue, but things happen, not everyone can make every game, and there's no reason to have them suffer because of it.

Had I been the DM, I'd have sent her elf on an extended side-quest while she was gone, brought in an NPC to replace her, and when she finished with the play her elf could return from the side-quest, coincidentally having earned exactly the xp the rest of the PCs had in the interim. Indeed, this is exactly what my DM did, while I was hospitalized for a few months this year, and could not make our weekly game.

As for her behavior, giving ultimatums is never a good idea. It shows an unwillingness to discuss the situation that is, IMO, childish and counterproductive. Only in the most extreme of extreme circumstances is it ever appropriate. That said, if she's a good player and this has never happened before, I'd let it slide. If she's a good friend and this has never happened before, I'd talk with her about it. Perhaps something else is troubling her.

 

[Mercule]

I've got a player who used to give implicit threats of that sort every now and again. Really, really torqued me off -- actually thinking about it still torques me off. When I was low on players and despirate to play, I'd give some ground. Fortunately, he hasn't done it in quite some time.

 

[frankthedm]

i would say "Goodbye drama queen!

 

[Hypersmurf]

IMC, characters gain XP for overcoming encounters regardless of whether the player was present or not. If the PC was there, he gains XP. Of course, PCs might also die regardless of whether or not the player was present, so it balances out.

Much the same in our game.

In fact, the risk of death increases when the player is absent, since their PC is so much more likely to volunteer for the dangerous jobs.

"Okay, who wants to open the door?"
[chorus] "Quinn does!"

"Okay, so is someone going to touch the spooky glowing black gem?"
[chorus] "Quinn does!"

-Hyp.